England vs West Indies, 3rd ODI

That's it from us then. Not much work apart from some rain updates, but I guess we would have preferred a good contest to a washout like this. The next match in this series is the one-off T20 on Sunday at Trent Bridge. With Gayle, Pollard, Bravo, Russell, Sammy and Narine in the side, the tourists are the favourites for a change! Let's hope they can live up to the expectations. Tata!

Update 13:10 PM local time: That's it folks. The match has been called off. The series ends with the scoreline reading England 2, West Indies 0. England will be happy with their recent ODI form - they defeated Pakistan in UAE and have followed it up with a series win over West Indies. But Sammy and his men don't become a bad team overnight - 2 ODIs are surely not enough to judge a side!

Update 12:50 PM local time: Yorkshire Cricket have tweeted that for a T20 game to take place, the match must start at 4:30 PM local time. However, the ground-staff need three hours to dry the ground once the rain stops.

Update 12:15 PM local time: The umpires will have an inspection in about an hour's time, i.e. at 1:15 PM local. Highly optimistic stuff as the rain has not eased off.

Breaking News: Danish Kaneria has been found guilty of two charges of corruption by the ECB and will face punishments for the same, that shall be announced later today. Kaneria's name had emerged during the spot fixing hearing involving Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield, with the latter saying it was the Pakistani who had introduced him to corrupt practices.

Update 11:45 AM local time: The umpires are out in the middle discussing the conditions with the head groundsman. The rain has not stopped yet. The groundstaff need close to two and a half hours to get the ground suitable for playing, but that is only if the rain stops. However, the rain shows no signs of abating.

11:30 AM local time: It is still raining at Leeds. The forecast is very grim indeed. The groundstaff are doing their best to mop up the excess water but the rain just keeps pelting down.

10:45 local time Live pictures in: The covers are firmly on and the rain continues to pour down. The ground-staff are working, but I reckon it will go in vain. Let's hope for the best though..

Five words from David 'Bumble' Lloyd that sum up the situation: "Pools on outfield Terrible forecast"

First things first: it is raining at Leeds and the final ODI between England and West Indies is sure to be affected by bad weather. The forecast is for heavy rain as the day progresses and we may be in for a long wait. If play does happen, England will look to extend their dominance in this series and end with a whitewash. West Indies will be playing for pride..

Preview: England v West Indies, 3rd ODI

The series has been lost and all that the tourists have been left is to play for some pride. England have made light of the retirement of Kevin Pietersen to register two comprehensive wins. For a team that started the ODI series as the firm favorites, it is galling that West Indies have failed to show any sort of fight. If Bell's rampage did them in the first match, Cook's master class reduced the second match to be as one sided as the first.

The teams have now moved from the cold climes of London to the northern part of the country with plenty of thoughts. England will look to sweep the series with a new bowling attack while the visitors would like to save the embarrassment of a white-wash.

England: The hosts are sitting pretty with both the batting and bowling clicking as a unit. They have the luxury of resting some of their prominent players and they have done so by giving Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann a well earned break. The hosts may even look to change the batting order in order to give the likes of Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Matt Prior some match time ahead of the series against Australia.

West Indies: Chris Gayle marked his return to West Indian colors with a brisk fifty. He seemed to be on a man on a mission until his innings was cruelly cut short by a marginal umpiring decision. Worryingly, it has been the fleeting brilliance of individual players that have stopped them on their tracks. While Gayle was on song, Simmons was in the middle of an innings that he would love to forget. Dwayne Bravo held the innings together but West Indies failed to get the momentum going in the last few overs.

The bowling has been largely lackadaisical. None of the bowlers have been able to create any sort of impression on the batsmen. Sunil Narine has been disappointing; he came into England riding on a lot of hype but has struggled to make any sort of impact on the English batsmen.

Team News: England have drafted in replacements for the rested trio. James Tredwell should play as the specialist spinner unless England opt for an all pace attack. Chris Woakes and Jade Dernbach should take the remaining two slots.

Lendl Simmons struggled in the first two matches and might be left out in favor of Johnson Charles for the tourists. Fidel Edwards, who has been a mere tourist ever since the 1st Test might get a game at the expense of Tino Best.

Stats: Alastair Cook has not lost a match at home as a captain since the defeat against Sri Lanka at Lord's on 3rd July 2011.

Quotes: There's a heavy schedule coming up. We need to look after these guys - Ian Bell supports the rotation policy followed by England.

We know cricket isn't played on paper, it's played out in the middle. You have to go out and perform and we haven't done that... It's always hard to ask the lower order to try and get runs - A disappointed Sammy refuses to blame the tardiness towards the end as a result for their defeat in the 2nd ODI.